Ladies and gentlemen I'm looking forward to spending to the grocery store they sell
us like
a secretary of Arlington so they're already. Going to tell you this for I'm giving
you an opportunity to hear each of those of the candidates vying to be the
Democratic candidate who with your support and
a good strategy will reach what retired great walled in.
Just
a year ago I and several other bird credits for the affiliate of our revolution here
in Southern Oregon Our revolution is the successor organization to standers
presidential campaign. Affiliates around the country are united in supporting
Bertie's platform issues and in truth populist progressive vision for.
One of the top positions to the Trump agenda goes without saying we also have
redress reject the destructive neo con N.D.P.
a Liberal policies of the past Republican and Democrat institutions.
Bernie showed is that an individual with
a twenty seven dollars donation as well thought of voluntary spirit and shake up
the corrupt corporate ties system that is played as even before the disastrous two
thousand and ten Citizens United decision. Our local affiliate numbers about two
hundred people it happened joined as yet please sign up for one of the courses in
the back of the room to receive information. Now before I introduce our moderator
and the candidates introduce themselves I want you to meet our officers were
terrorists Banfield and duck there's been teller president Colette Perry Miller.
And our vice president Lori Hoagland I'm sorry Treasurer Gloria Hogan
Yep and I have to tell you that these three ladies are passionate Bernie Wrightson
the most committed and finishes individuals I've ever had the pleasure to work with
. I also want to give
a shout out to our tolerant spouses partners and children who have had to endure
our really lent let's focus on all things Bernie.
We are fortunate in southern Oregon to have
a number of local organizations with whom we sometimes partner including health
care for all Oregon so there are good climate action now unite Oregon he's thousand
jobs with justice and most recently the Rogue Valley Unitarian Universalists
fellowship social justice and actually community.
We look forward to more collaboration with these and other organizers going forward
on a personal note I celebrate the number of organizations that are being run by
a new generation of young bright energetic women women for example like Michelle
glass and
a soul of rogue action center and growth. And
our own band and all that very melody.
My pleasure to introduce one such dedicated activists to help equity organizer at
Unite Oregon she has been working in social justice related to health care for
about
a decade she began as an Internet Planned Parenthood in stayed on through the two
thousand
a selection that experience only solidified her commitment in working to fight
inequality and racism through organizing and that is an engagement ladies and
gentlemen I am pleased to introduce our moderator for tonight's forum Rebecca
Pearson.
Hi everyone one of our eight
so up at this time and I give you all some guidelines. To some housekeeping we're
going to ask everyone to please silence cell phones and other electronics we're
also encouraging folks pictures tweets recordings or live stream totally allowed us
please be respectful of your neighbors so as you do that we are using the hash tag
our Rev CD to it's up there with me associated with this event so thank you for
using that if you do hope in keeping with our intention to respect everyone and
stay within our allotted time we request that the audience refrain from
interruptions of any kind during this forum including but not limited to questions
statements or applause until closing statements are given by the candidate and
we're not able to include every question submitted by the public today but we will
send every single question to the candidates and we will record any of our rest of
the responses that we receive and they'll be found on our Facebook page so be on
the lookout for that and ask right now and ask the candidate to come take their
seats. I have some guidelines for you all as well.
When they're five and it's that you know all that progressive candidate for
Congressional District two so candidates when one of you begins your role in
Congress you'll have to follow since strict rules about the length of time allotted
for your statements on the floor of the house with this in mind we're giving you
all
a great opportunity to practice these skills in communicating. With concise clear
statements and we request that you respect the timekeeper sitting up here and I
will cut you off if you go beyond your allotted time so please do not have the on
this. All right. Now now I've got
a big hook. All right so we're going to start with introductions you all
have two minutes each. And we're going to start with Jamie McLeod Skinner. Well
thank you all for being here this is really what democracy looks like and thank you
to our organizers as well my name is Jamie McLeod Skinner I finished high school
just down the road from here and went off to school studying in June hearing and
planning and went on to commit myself to
a life of public service but what really drove that decision was something that
impacted me early on I was born Wisconsin My mom is
a teacher retired teacher now and she she was a single mom with two kids in
a small town Wisconsin way back when and she would get up early to drive
a school bus she would work all day the teacher she drove
a school bus the way home in the in the during the summer she would pick apples
with migrant workers who know table her kids and there were times that I recall her
saying she wasn't hungry dinnertime and that was looking back in adult realizing
that is because there was just enough food for two people and there were three
people the helpful. And I don't often tells
a personal story that I don't often tell you talk about my experience with
a water expert my eight years and what that office my running and winning elections
but I think what's really key when I look at all of the questions that are before
us here tonight it's really about our core and our focus and what it shaped and I
was profoundly shaped by my mom who's my greatest role model and the sacrifices
that she made for our family and the role modeling that she did for us so when I
finished my degrees in engineering and planning instead of going into the private
sector I went over to Bosnia to run a
a reconstruction program after the war that's the kind of dedication I've committed
my life to and that's that's what I believe I will believe profoundly in public
service and that's why I want to serve you in Congress thanks. Think we've been
going to this is I am. Human My name is Jim Curry.
First of all Who was it this is an incredible crowd I ran in two thousand and
sixteen and when I was running if I ever it twenty five people in
a room it was like over the top exciting here we are ten months before the general
election and look at it and this is not only unique to Medford it was in Ashland it
was in. The Sun River everywhere so this is indicative of why we are going to
repeal and replace great Waldon in two thousand and sixteen here throughout making
Thank you. I'm originally from North Dakota graduated my school went to college for
a year I enlisted in the Army for two years I got out of the Army at Fort Lewis up
in Washington I went to school at pathetic loser and university graduated with
a business degree for
a year I went to law school in San Diego. Went up to Alaska when I was in law
school on an internship program after I graduated law school I went back to North
Dakota for a couple of years I worked for a small law firm for
a year. Taught at the University of North Dakota for a year filling in for
a guided because sabbatical to move back to Alaska and I work I was up there for
twenty four years first fourteen years I was with the municipality of Anchorage I
was
a prosecutor I did some insurance defense and then I started to do contracts and procurement
in ninety seven I went with B.P.
The oil and gas company and I'll talk more about that later but.
So I was with B.P.
I did contracts I was not in the legal department I worked over in Algeria for five
years and then I retired from B.P.
In December of two thousand and thirteen I married I have four children two of my
daughters speech it has unlimited here in Medford my youngest daughter is
a junior up at the University of Oregon and so my phone is working trying to get it
. Thank you. Thank you again calling.
Trump is going to get us killed Greg Walden is his chief enabler Hi My
name is Mike Byrne on
a stonemason on the working class candidate for fifty years I've worked in this
district raising
a family worked in the woods on the farms and ranches and up on the mountain
to get the whole story though you're going to have to go to my Web site Congressman
Burton dot com There's actually
a fifty one minute long video unedited you learn everything you need to know
about me that's quite an investment as Peter sage suggested but I know it's worth
it that was done several months ago but I haven't changed.
Are you tired of the bad news. I mean come on as
a candidate I need to know this stuff so I'm staying up with this wife beaters
Scott Pruitt is now saying he's just to quit denying climate change now he says
global warming is good can you all hear me back there. But hey there's some good
news and I want to share this with you Mike Pence left Korea without starting
a nuclear war. There's
a lot knows think about the Olympics one everybody laid down their weapons it's the
most peaceful time of the year I was
a professional skier I skied with kids that have competed in the Olympics I know
what it's up to what they're up against book and then Steve Bannon he says ten
thousand years of patriarchy are over let's hear it. Not again do that
well anyway now is the time you know the time it's time for our revolution our
revolution we're going to go door to door we're going to talk to people we've got
what money won't buy time and the time is ours
thank you so much Mike All right we're going to move on to the doctor Jenny Mary I
and I think any nearing and I don't usually introduce myself as Dr but it is why I
am here so it's really important I've been
a physician for almost three decades now and I have spent my career as
a physician advocating and working for the. Very next story some of the
testing. Oh Oh sorry thank you. I have spent my career working
in advocating for the health and well being of Oregonians from all walks of life
and that's what I want to do in Congress I was five years old when I decided to be
a doctor and I love being
a doctor it is the best job and I never thought that there was something else that
I wanted to do but working in our broken health care system I found in the last six
to twelve months as we saw the things that we've been working for in health care
are going away the ability to live well and to live healthy to be able to get over
your illness and go home and actually live independently be able to get back to
work and get
a living wage that you can actually afford to pay your rent with all of these
things are going away in this last year all of them are being threatened and I
found that in this last year I would go to work and come home and say I did some
good work today I helped make
a difference in someone's life and it just wasn't enough anymore my daughter told
me of when she was in middle school that you know I'm not sure we're going to do
mom but you're
a doctor and I know you help people and that's great but I need to change the world
and that has been
a little foreign in my side for years because I'm pretty competitive and I don't
like my daughter beating me and anything and this is my chance it feels like
a magic perfect time this is
a time for me to make the difference and to change the world and that's going to do
for you by getting into Congress and making the changes we need so that we can live
well and healthy and I promise to be your advocate there. Thank you
Thank you Kenny Alright we're going to move on to rise Mason. It's good to be with
you today friends we are in
a very pivotal time in our society we're facing some interconnected challenges like
the economy. The digital age technology and perhaps most
pressing like climate change we have
a window to respond to those there is an urgency to many people are responding to
the necessary and natural anxiety. In
a way that doesn't oppose our best values the net that anxiety is natural where
we're evolved primates so of course we're going to be anxious but I'm hoping that
instead of the low road of divisiveness and we can choose together to lift up the
high road which is creativity courage and extending dignity to all people the
goal before us is to be Greg Walden and part of what that entails is reaching out
to the rural people who have voted for him again and again and when we do that we
need to do it in
a way that extends dignity and I think that that's something I can offer my life
has been spent in
a variety of ways in gauging with people who seem at first blush very different
from me I'm a former long haul truck driver I am
a former science teacher who understands climate change I have a sharp mind and
a mouth Maddux degree I work as
a hospital chaplain and I serve people who are in their last days I can stay calm I
have
a master's degree from Harvard I can rub shoulders with the powerful and know I over
them nothing except human dignity we can do this.
Thank you thank you Ralph we're going to move on to Eric
Brennan. The very first thing I want to say is thank you very much to our
revolution for pulling this together this is
a huge amount of work and look how crowded this room is this is wonderful this is
right this is what it's going to take. To find
a new line of work for Greg Walden and that's why we're here OK I'm Eric Burnett I
live in Hood River I live about two blocks from Greg Walden I've known him since
one thousand nine hundred one even voted for him once back when he was that sort of
rational moderate guy who'd go for a hike with
a blooming hour around the mountain come up with
a reasonable force practical compromise he's not that guy anymore those days are
over he's not that guy anymore a little bit about my background I'm
a maritime academy graduate I worked as a ship's officer for
a number of years I came ashore worked. Basically as the person under the.
Governor's office at the Port of Portland in charge of deep draft Bessel
infrastructure what does that mean means if you grew
a ton of wheat anywhere in Eastern Oregon or Washington or Montana or the Dakotas
and you ship it to Asia it went out through at least one of my infrastructure
projects so I've been in the agriculture industry either moving stuff on the water
or making sure that it can move on the water for pretty much all of my all of my
commercial life. Why did I get into the race I took an early retirement from
the executive director position at the organ board
a maritime pilot's we did the licensing for the pilots and I ended up walking past
Greg Walden house. Time and time again while he was running the fat and failed
Obamacare repeal language his right front tire was halfway flat week after week
after week he couldn't be bothered to come home and drive his own truck talk with
his constituents as he was doing
a huge amount of damage at that moment is right to serve in office was forfeit
That's why I'm running. Because you know Eric we're going to move on in here
from it seemly. That afternoon and thanks everybody for showing up my name is Tim
White and I want to be your congressman from the second district I live in van but
I'm originally from Indiana I went to school at Indiana or I have
a degree in economics and an M.B.A.
With
a concentration finance after school I went to work for the Chrysler Corporation in
one thousand and eighty the first time they were trying to go broke I'm as you
listen to us tonight you're going to find out here we have more in common than we
have differences so the real question is who is electable as
a retired finance guy I can't give you the clever marketing campaigns I have
friends and marking I have to call and to do that but the real thing the real
question want to talk about is what political pundits say you need three things to
win an election you need to have money you need to have
a ground game and you need to have
a message will Clinton outspent strong two to one she had
a ground game that dwarfs anything Trump put together all Trump had was
a message that resonated across the country and you know how that story came out I
believe we have to come up with
a message that will resonate to do that I met with eighty union carpenters Thursday
night and when I walked in and I could tell it was
a Republican crowd I said hey we got the Republicans in here and about eighty
percent of the hands well I said OK so I did my ten minute pitch and then I said I
came here to hear you tonight I've heard me talk enough what are your issues the
issues were jobs they didn't talk about guns it in talk about abortion it in talk
about the environment they talked about jobs and they said the thing you're talking
about with the highways that will really bring back jobs what are the jobs were
their concern is for immigrants because the immigrants are moving in the skilled
trades again and they're worried about losing their jobs we need to co-opt the
Republicans because if we only campaign on democratic platforms I had guarantee you
we will lose this election in November. I really.
Think we're going to move on to our first question and all of you are going to have
a chance to respond to this the question is What are your views on campaign finance
and what are the campaign strategies you will use to beat Walden since he will
likely outspend any challenger regardless of their fund raising tactic and the
first person we're going to ask the answer this question is Mike Burton I'm gonna
write
a book when this is all over called Candidate School. And the first person I met
when I decided I was going to run for Congress said Mike you're going to have to
form
a political action committee and you're going to have to start raising money so think
about
a district who is bigger is bigger than the state of Florida just to drive around
just to come down here with my wife I mean
a five hundred dollars the basic let's not talk about the millions that Walden has
he in fact ten million twenty million he is going to have what ever it takes so
let's not talk about money let's talk about what it's going to take it's going to
take people knocking on doors and
a story that's going to take some money but it's not going to take millions OK so
what am I going to do about it I'm going to ask you if your candidate has not
already asked you to knock on doors and make phone calls I am I have
a sign up sheet over there here and all have a a walk list and
a map for you to morrow we need to do this kind of work money is not going to win
this election there's a lot of countries that have well there's
a lot of different ways to approach it you don't agree with me he doesn't agree
with me some countries have. A shortened campaign season some have caps
on expenditures some up public financing those are all good ideas what we need to
do is talk to people that is the revolution so the only way that we're going to win
this election your candidate hasn't asked you to knock on doors yet I have sign up
sheets over there we'll have
a list for you tomorrow thank you. All right same question to
Jim Kerry. Campaign finance reform is the reason I got into this race and it's my
number one issue if you could pick an on sexy primary issue campaign finance reform
would be yes but you know what campaign finance reform is something that actually
deals with
a system health care climate change those are issues that don't deal with the
system so I want to make
a systemic change not just address and I want to address the other issues don't get
me wrong but I want to make that the change who thinks in this room that the way we
finance our campaigns today is something that's really beneficial to you.
Right nobody except I guess I don't see the Koch brothers in here otherwise they
would as it was it up and said Yes so what's my answer to campaign finance reform
it's right out of burning Sanders book he raised two hundred twenty seven million
dollars in individual donations he showed that the way I want to do it and the way
I am doing it is a viable way to finance
a campaign I am and not only talking the talk I am walking the walk I am taking
money only from individuals no corporations no unions although I totally support
unions and I would love to be endorsed by unions and I would welcome cancer
beauticians from individual union members but you know what the only way we're
going to change it is by actually doing it when we get elected or when I get
elected and I go to D.C.
And I've shown that you can get elected by only taking individual donations other
people would do the same thing my answer is public financing of elections I would
like to see everybody have fifty dollars and the only thing you could do with that
would be to contribute to an issue or in
a candidate that you could vote for we have about five hundred thousand registered
voters in District two that would mean twenty five million dollars from
non-special interest can you imagine people would be coming back not only for your
vote but also for your contribution thanks. All right we're going to move on
to any. At this point we know that we've got
a lot of money up against us with Greg Walden but we also know that we need to get
that ground game out there but we also need some money to do that Bernie managed to
raise over two hundred million dollars and he needed that to help make that ground
game happen I am lucky enough to have as my campaign manager someone who spent all
of twenty sixteen mobilizing that ground game getting that vote out and getting
that people to work the getting those people out there voting that we need I know
that we can do this it is going to take some money and I have the ability because
how care is finally at the top of everyone's list to bring money into this district
from people who care about health care people know that people who are in health
care who've been dealing with it day in and day out are going to be able to help
make these changes happen and they care and they're not looking for influence or
looking for change and I'll be able to tap into that money from physicians and
health care workers around the country who are going to help us get Greg Walden who
tried to repeal our first advances in health care out of there so we can actually
make some real change of. Thinking if then that's are going to move on
to rise Masons. Are right some hearing some great things from the other candidates
thank you I'm going to go big picture this is about money and what money means in
our society for too long money has become
a short term way of thinking that it's security and salvation when I'm hopeful for
something miraculous will happen following the hard work and the relationship
building which really is fundamental to our paradigm shift and I think our I really
mean the people in this room we understand that this is a relational. In
a prize that puts again human dignity at the forefront. Imagine if you will lots
and lots and lots of money flowing into this race to try to beat whoever is the
Democratic candidate so much money in fact that the Don't Fence Me In people
a rural Oregon finally say wait
a minute I'm for the little people maybe maybe that's who I should be listening to
maybe that's where I should be getting my information and my news I don't know how
long it's going to take we may be able to pull it off as year it doesn't matter we
need to keep doing what we're doing and there is
a lot of good thinking here you all have
a lot of good thinking there's excitement but it's going to take us continuing to
show up and give where we can and I think what's eventually going to win folks over
is and when they see people and meet them who are speaking with integrity and
genuinely concerned about one another. Thank you so much we're
going to move on to Erick bring that in the first place I think what we're looking
at for this election cycle the things that we can affect for this election cycle of
are not going to be related to finance whoever wins this race is going to be
severely outspent by Greg Walden we know that we don't need to raise one more
dollar than him we just need to get one more vote that said Are you move on to
strategy here read we're all America already has
a Republican Party they appear to like it and if we want them to do something
different we have to offer them something different we will not win by being
Republicans or white. We need to offer something different something better and
something progressive and we need to differentiate ourselves and we need to make
that message become clear again and again and again we're not going to win by being
Republicans light is the strategy question that we can impact in this race the
finance question yes absolutely we need public campaign financing that's not going
to happen in twenty eighteen we can change the strategy and that's what this is
about. Thank you very much we're going to move on to can wait.
Well as we all know Mr walling got about ninety five percent of his money from
outside the district mostly outside of state. He will continue to do that he's
already raised about four million this election and he will my guess is about six
million with one and
a half million morning last time are we going to be able to easily take money out
of politics you know and I'm sorry I know people are going to like that answer but
the PAC industry is a hundred billion dollars
a year and history if you think they're just going to walk away from this you are
mistaken that's
a problem being retired finance guy you can't get away from facts and figures now
there when we talk about you know the health care obviously health care is
a big issue in this and but seventeen of the twenty counties of us that this trick
that one hundred thirty thousand people got their insurance by virtue of Medicaid
subsidies and seventeen of the twenty counties turned it down these would have been
the first people so our issue is going to be how to get these people to address
a message or to how to give them
a message that they will feel we are in their corner to support right now they
don't think there's
a difference between they don't think Walden's do anything for him but they don't
see
a Democrat standing up and doing anything better for them so they're just going to
why change the horse in midstream he's been there all along they will continue we
have to figure out how to get
a message as much as I would like to get the money out of campaigns on my pliers is
a five thousand per person no PACs no corporations only comes from registered
voters yes I believe that but the problem is folks this is
a multi hundred billion dollars industry that's not going quietly into the night
we're going to have to come up with another way to attack this. Thank you so much
and finally Jamie Macleod Skinner thanks so we don't have to outraise Greg Walden
we just have to get as
a said another vote and one extra vote and he does and so it's going to come down
to working really hard and that's where the the upsurge in all the energy that
we've seen around our district can be critically important around campaign finance
yes we need campaign finance reform when I serve on
a city council Here's what we did about it we recognize the fact that the Supreme
Court set some boundaries and limited some of things that we could do so we looked
at why people raise money they raise it to get the word out and so we created
instead an incentive program so that people could raise additional resources
if they opted into the program it was
a voluntary program that people agree to cap the amount of money they raise and
limit what they did to that capped amount of money it also created an incentive in
providing additional ways for candidates to get the word out so we can create an
incentive program that does
a couple things shift the focus from just raising money to having helping people
get the word out it also set the standard for all candidates the opt in or do you
opt out there's tremendous pressure that would then be on candidates to opt in to
the question is do you believe in campaign finance reform and restrictions do you
believe in the integrity of the process over just raising money in setting up that
kind of frame
a candidate inevitably opted into it because if you didn't if they raise question
about your focus on money versus voters and so that's the kind of carrot type
program we can work within the current structure in the current sins in the United
framework that the Supreme Court has established what I'd also like to see is this
Congress pass legislation that would set the stage for legislation to go through
and have the Supreme Court relook at it and hopefully overturn Citizens United.
Thank you so much for those and there and we're going to move on the next question
you will answer as well when you have him in it the question is tell us about
Nick's periods or time in your life that helps you empathize with the vulnerable
population and then what did you do and we're going to start with make Burn we were
given these questions in advance so you think I'd have
a really tight story that lasted one minute and fifty nine seconds my problem is
I've lived my whole life like this so which which example my going to try to pull
out well I'll try this because if you didn't cry about this experience it really
wasn't that important so I was
a Special Olympics goes for at least ten years and I did it two different times
a year all from
a was special epic So I tell the kids how to ski and snowboard and when I first got
into it I used to run the race department at the Mt Hood medals and we hosted the
state Special Olympics and I'd had no experience with it but seeing this go on and
these kids the way they treated each other and I'm talking about the way the kids
treated each other it was amazing I was so I was moved and so I signed up I'm going
to start coaching so for the next ten years I worked with kids teaching them to ski
and snowboard and these are kids that couldn't make it out there but when they were
on the slopes they were free because skiing I created these. Just drills where you
create muscle memory you do something over and over and I thought these kids they
could ski they could fly down the mountain it was unbelievable they were so happy
and we went into the lava you guys all see
a big number of you right you don't know what we've been doing your whole life so
you don't want a lot of them so crowded with regular people in these kids
a good ride together and they would huddle up and they were supportive of each
other and they felt like oh no you know but they get that I come on
a school skiing we get back out on the hill and it was amazing
a lot to tell you about my experiences was as a Corsa
a whole different area with emotionally disturbed kids so on my Web site
Congressman Byrne dot com. Thank you so much we're going to move on to Jenny
nearing the same question two minutes so this is
a pretty hard one for me because it's pretty much every day of my job but one day
that kind of stood out when I was reviewing the question it was
a day where I realize I had four patients that I had seen that day in the hospital
who had all been were either actively homeless or had been homeless within the last
year of the school were two of them has schizophrenia and had not been able to
access the mental health and the medications that they needed to keep their life
organized and be able to sign
a contract and pay their rent on time and they had been living on the streets and
under bridges the third person had actually won the lottery about five years
earlier and had plenty of money to afford
a place to live but he's been taken advantage of by many of his friends and that
and become so depressed that he was drinking and living under the bridge. The
fourth person may have been the fattest all those all of these were hard to hard to
see the fourth one was
a seventy one year old woman who had lost her husband when he was sixty and with
the health issues that he had had in their low income jobs that they had worked
hard all their lives His illness had made them lose most of their money that they
had saved for retirement and she found herself unable to afford
a place to live and
a year earlier had moved in with her daughter her daughter was around forty and her
daughter lost her job and they had spent the last year living out of her car and
she was admitted to the hospital incredibly malnourished and be hydrated in pain
for arthritis that she couldn't get help for help from her medications for and the
day that she was admitted she had finally gotten her it's her housing approval to
be able to get some affordable help get housing. What I saw from that day was that
the cases that we see all the time one or two at
a time all in one day made me realize that this is not going to be
a unique problem this is
a growing problem and especially for our seniors who don't have adequate insurance
adequate retirement savings and that made me create
a new nonprofit that good sample talk about later. I.
Think one of them that we're going to move on to rise in the sense of well I was. I
was working at
a domestic violence shelter and one of my coworkers was Native American and she was
helping to organize an event for elders in use up near Mt Hood at
a camp to look at some of the issues and she said y'all come so I went and it was
a really privileged opportunity for me to just volunteer we don't toilets I cooked
and washed the dishes and looked after the kids and got to see what Jimmy was
a very different way of organizing
a community. There was no particular leader but folks showed up and did what needed
to be done when it was. Meal time the kids would come to the front of the line get
their food and take that food back to feed their grandma grandmas and grandpas.
I met people who had been at Wounded Knee in the seventy's I heard about what was
happening at Big Mountain with the forced relocation of Navajo folks taking away
their sheep. All in service of Peabody Coal and I began to understand and feel and
see the pain of these people that I came to love very deeply this is
a for them it's the same old story so really touched me and it alerted me to the
fact that there are institutional forms of oppression that some people fight every
day so I'm still working on that journey of being an ally.
But that's why that's why relationships matter and so when I think about why I
stand up and do things
a lot of times it's because I'm thinking of someone I knew from
a particular cohort or group and I'm doing it because I love that person and they
inspired me and I want to honor our connection. Thank
you so much Eric Burnett. So if you've ever been involved in any like
having infrastructure work or construction you've got to get big pieces of
machinery to and from. Odd and uncomfortable places and if you're doing it on the
river and normally involves putting big pieces of machinery onto barges and moving
them where they need to go. One of the things that I had to do when I was working
in grain export infrastructure was make sure that we can make all that happen make
marshalling area along the Columbia River is about one hundred fifty acres and
we're just about to get ready to use it again and so I said well we've got to get
the police to go do
a sweep to let him say well you know we've got some people living rough out there
said Well let me just let me go out there first and just walk around and just see
what I can find and I can warn people to stay out of the way in the windows the
police department said yeah that's fine if you can do that that'd be great so I did
that and I ended up meeting
a bunch of folks who are living rough and there is something about them is like I'm
a Maritime Academy guy these guys are kind and some His folks are military some of
the women were military ex-military and I started talking with them and I said So
you guys are all living rough out here to stay off of that corner if you would and
we're going to be using this area the police know you're here and no one's going to
Bosnia and thank you for the heads up and said So do you guys get V.A.
Benefits is it oh no we don't know why we got a less than honorable discharge is
a lot of these folks had been wounded they didn't get medical benefits at all they
didn't get them because they had
a less than honorable discharge almost in every case due to P.T.S.D.
So my point of empathy there for Pete's sake is if you put your hand up and swear
into the armed forces you get the medical benefit period where regardless of your
discharge status I want to ask Greg Walden that question he's
a champion of the vets Greg why don't they getting medical benefits.
Thank you so much. Many moons ago when I was working back to Chrysler my boss
called me up I was an engineer in finance of time and he said I I need
a volunteer go get me
a volunteer that's why we used to do things back then so I said well what do we
need he said well it's called Project business we volunteered so many of the
managers to go teach and or city schools downtown Detroit so I went back down and
came back about them and players I got
a volunteer he said Who and I said Me and Rob looked at me and said Not on your
life I said Why it's a half day
a week you'll get over I'll be back you know I'll be back I want to clock you know
you can work me all night so I started teaching seventh and eighth grade girls in
downtown Detroit about basic economics these kids came from probably the worst
homes you could imagine broken homes single mothers except for A and they had
really never had a role model somebody that actually showed up once
a week and told them how the world really worked I used to always use McDonald's as
my example about you know hey when the guy makes a hamburger and they sell
a person the eight cents and they drop it on the floor how much money did they just
lose and you know what we have all sorts of economic examples like this. And this
went on for three months it got to the point that I when I would drive in the
morning I would come up the back to school is
a Catholic girls' school and they'd all be at the windows like I Mr Y.
You know so it was really cool to be able to think that you were having perhaps one
of the first positive impressions on these kids that they'd ever seen and at the
end of the season or the end of the semester they gave me
a card and when I opened it up they all chipped in to buy Mr White a Big Mac.
. And you know it's it's it was really hard to be
a grown man and to hide your eyes but I think today that those those kids are all
grown up and maybe just one or two of them went on to do something else because I
was willing to spend a half day
a week thank you so much Tina hi Janet. Well
I mentioned my mom earlier my interest or Mark two was my greatest role model and
when I was nine this is the mid seventy's she took
a teaching job in Tanzania and taught at
a government school there where I went to school it was during the time of Yemen
for those of you who remember and many of my classmates were refugees from Uganda
and hearing their stories I remember their stories to this day and it made
a couple impressions on me wanting is that government being
a government being in leadership roles
a sacred trust with your constituents and the other is the incredible courage and
serve passion for survival that people have for refugees and it impacted me greatly
and when I went on after working in Bosnia and Kosovo I wanted to come back to the
states and the International Rescue Committee the organization of with asked me to
run their refugee resettlement office in in the Bay Area and final day and I was
delighted to do that because it felt like it going back into serving people that.
And serving folks that were very similar to kids that I grew up with the other
thing that I think that really them think makes it relevant for our district is in
the past seven months when I've been traveling to all twenty counties or district
many full time really reaching out connecting with folks throughout our district
there are levels of poverty in our district that are similar to and comparable to
refugees I work with there's issues that we're facing things like the opioid crisis
that we're facing one in four Oregonians and the Klamath here loses very kind to
recently published an op ed piece days in the opium crisis there are all sorts of
issues in our community that we need to address and we need to focus on and we need
that level of understanding from a visceral level in Washington D.C.
On folks who are making decisions bottom these are not theoretical things these are
things that impact people's lives and families and we need to be passionate about
serving them and caring for them. Think we've got
a man in Jim Carey. When I was
a prosecutor up in Anchorage just about everything I did was alcohol related we had
a victim witness coordinator that would deal with victims of domestic violence to
make sure that they would be there to death the five I can't tell you how many
times I did drunk driving cases when it was in the. Sentencing in the person that
got hit by the drunk driver came in with
a cane and the other person came in walk in just fine and I remember thinking the
person that got it got life and this person got three days that was
a drunk driver so when something really irritates me and alcohol abuse really
irritates me I drink and I have no problem with someone drinking but when it turns
into abuse that bothers me
a whole lot you can either sit back and complain about it or you can step up and
try to do something about it which is why I'm running for Congress but in that
piece what I did is I did a local initiative up in Anchorage and it would have put
a six percent sales tax on alcohol it would raise six million dollars And what was
driving me was that I knew that with this six million dollars Some police officer
would be hired and one night that police officer that got hired because of this
extra money would make
a drunk driving arrest and because that arrest was made somewhat his life would be
saved no one would ever know that because how do you know your life has been saved
and that you had the accident so that's what drove me and the alcohol industry came
in from the outside and they outspent me five to one and I came within one half of
one percent of getting an alcohol tax pass so it was
a real challenge but it was something that was only worthwhile because I knew what
the benefits would have been that had been passed Thank you. Thank you
so much we're going to move on to the next question. Which we're going to ask you
all to answer your last two minutes chance of a question tell us about
a time in your life when you took an unpopular stance for something you deeply
believe in we're going to start with Jenny an earring. So in my practice before I
went to first practice I was in the for all of these so as
a kid the doctor and I started my own practice and we grew fairly fast and we had
about I think at that time five people in the practice and we were having
a partner meeting and one of the partners said you know I found out that we can go
ahead and go to this three day course and we can learn how to do ultrasounds of
kidneys ourselves and we could buy
a machine and do it here in the office for patients and I said all right but we
live in an urban area where if you need an ultrasound How long does it usually take
you to for your patient to get it they're like oh you know it's
a day or two at most and I said OK if we send them for an ultrasound the person is
doing the ultrasound is going to be a tech who probably trained at zero I.T.
And who's been training for
a long time to make sure they get the best pictures possible and then it's going to
be looked at by
a radiologist who spent four years of training to make sure they weren't going to
miss anything so do you really think that if you go to
a three day course you're going to be able to take those pictures yourself and read
them with the accuracy of the people that we can send them to here in town and if
you can tell me that you'd be happy to have the me read that and do that ultrasound
just as happy as having us go to these experts who are already in town then we can
buy that machine we can talk about it again after that. Though I know that standing
on my ethics has never been really popular when it means that somebody is not
making money but that's what we need in Congress right now because the only way
we're going to fix these problems like our broken health care system and affordable
housing are to make unpopular choices with some people were somebody is going to
make less money. Thank you so much Ross Mason.
If you recall back to my list of things I mentioned about my background you might
have gotten the idea that I'm
a little bit of an odd duck and that's been the case throughout my life and for
whatever reason I have an instinct for fairness and speaking truth and I
will end up with my foot in my mouth more than I wish were the case when to tell
you two quick stories because I think they're going to go fast one is that I know
a woman who is in education on the East Coast and now summer when there was
a lot of discussion of blood around black lives matter I thought my other educators
in the school district where I worked might want to know about this because I was
learning a great deal and my understanding was that educators to get
a license renewal you have to take
a class on supporting civil liberties and I think in my
schooling I've encountered that we have an obligation to serve all students and so
I said I sent out an e-mail saying there's this woman she's got the sense that page
and Twitter and if you've been watching what's been happening with black lives
matter and you're wondering what's next or how you might get involved here's
somebody who's
a resource person and the response from the district Well for one person who was
well regarded was to say there are two sides to every story there are certainly two
sides to this. She read it as being against the police as though that meant
if I support
a black lives matter that I was against the police which is far from far from the
case I used to work in the midst of violence and they would take us from danger to
safety so it's
a complex issue but my takeaway from that is that sometimes we're going to stumble
and fall when we're trying to do the right thing and we need to stand up and keep
doing it anyway and get smarter the next time. I thank you so
much Eric Burnett. It is
not at all unlikely that one of us here
a year from now may be voting on impeachment and if we're thinking about OK
I look back at what happened with Bill Clinton and I thought you know if I was
sitting the house would I have voted to impeach I would have he didn't tell the
truth he was being investigated and it was something that directly involved his
presidency so in that did not earn
a lot of friends in certain quarters that probably isn't going to surprise anybody
but I do believe you actually have to tell the darn truth if you're being
investigated and it involves It involves an office that you hold now I think
a replica options of that had he had he actually was and he did survive his his
trial in the Senate the next thing I thought was for Pete's sake the morning after
Al Gore should have walked into that office and said hey Bill we're going to have
a half hour meeting and at the end of it one of the two of us is going to resign
and you get to pick which hath that happened I'm convinced that Al Gore either
would have been the president because he was an incumbent or would have had enough
of
a moral distance from Bill Clinton to have won that election so ugly
that there. Thank you so much. Liz I like that line
well I wasn't so much as unpopular but it pretty much almost got me fired after
about eight years of my career. I don't know how much you bucks no doubt automotive
assembly but it's dangerous it's hard these people and they spent ten hours on the
line. I had some positions in my career where I could make
a difference for these people anybody know what
a leaf spring is. OK well over and when's or assembly we had we used to make what
we call B bandwagons
a really old fashioned great big ones and I was in the plant watching this guy
carrying these forty to eighty pound leaf springs and having to walk about forty
feet and then try to hold it in one position we put
a pen in and I said is that what's the accident rate in here well it's the worst
place in the plant. And so I said was anything we can do it he said yeah we could
get these carousels the guy can really stand here and I could lift it up to the to
the bandwagons it comes along and it was about four hundred thousand dollars so I
took it to my corporate control room I said we really need to do this it's where
have
a lot of accidents in the plants it's really tough work and Jim just hated spending
money on this is a waste of money and I made an unpopular comment for
a young guy well maybe if you had to stand there ten damn hours
a day and do it you'd have
a little different opinion. He signed the project and as I walked out and his
assistant came after me and said you're lucky you've still got
a job young man I did this several times over my career I talked in Klamath the
other night about I'm
a little bit different from some it came out of corporate America I had
a certain respect for these people that I believe paid my paycheck every month and
I still do I'm not I'm not afraid to take in the unpopular position and to stand up
for the people that I don't think somebody else is standing up for him that's why
I'm doing this because I want to stand up for rural America because I don't think
anybody's giving
a damn about him or the moment. Thank you so much all right team MacLeod dinner.
Thank you and look at this question I was thinking about I talked about being
gaijin civil disobedience of the young adults because gay people are allowed to
march in the St Patrick's Day parade in New York and from the work I did there I
thought about fighting corporate welfare when I served on the Santa Clara city
council in the forty nine ers as the city to build them
a one point two billion dollar publicly funded stadium and I was the only want to
say no and to push back on that and to help shape
a much better deal for the city but the the thing I want to focus on is something
that took place actually just down the road from us where we are now what happened
in the city of Phoenix I believe fundamentally in integrity in government in open
government in people making people who are elected to serve to make decisions about
public resources and. Over will but a year and
a half ago I think it is I stepped in as the city manager I was hired as
a city manager and I stepped in and began to address I was the eighth they had
seven years and hits
a good team and stepped in to to deal with some of the misappropriated
misappropriation of funds that were going on I began to push back on decisions that
were being made not in the public eye and it became very clear to me that I was
going to face the salivate dilemma at the local level. In the question is do I keep
quiet go along and protect myself or do I speak out and push back and risk being
fired and it wasn't really
a choice for me because I believe in integrity in government and I believe that
one's role if you're in
a leadership role is to speak up and take the hits necessary to protect your
constituents and I did that and I took the hits and so I the the mayor targeted me
and then when he didn't make it clear he wanted to kick me out I actually asked for
an open meeting so that I could air the issues in the city that meant I got hit
hard with a person he attacked I'm
a personality issue but I did that for the cities I could disclose the issues the
cities the city it cleaned up and there's been forced new measures in the past year
by the way. Including I'm Jim Carey. I keep going
back to the same issue of campaign finance reform and it's really not popular
because it's totally on sexy but again I go back to it. Albert Einstein said
insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting
a different result so I think everybody here agrees that we have
a lousy way to finance campaigns but unless we change that. Are we going to stay
insane and I think we are. I want to have people of elected that will actually
represent us their constituents not their big dollar contributors and so people
come up to me all the time as a lawyer you're not
a serious candidate because you know you're not making money from anyone but
individuals and I say you know what I'm dead serious I am going forty thousand
miles throughout congressional district who have been away from home for days on
end and thousands of my own dollars because I'm not serious I mean it's
a win but I'm not in it to win doing it the way it's always been done look at
Bernie Sanders who the heck would have thought that guy had
a chance against Hillary Clinton why are we talking about health care today because
Bernie Sanders was talking about health care in two thousand sixteen Why am I
talking about campaign finance reform same reason he showed the way he raised two
hundred twenty seven million bucks it can be done everybody that says it can't be
done I beg to differ I am not going to be Greg Walden in
November of two thousand and eighteen but we are going to be Greg
Walden in two thousand and eighteen and after I get elected and go to Congress and
campaign finance reform is going to happen thank you. Thank you so much Jim going
to move on to make. It was in a room similar to this son river just
a couple weeks ago you guys were all there. So it was crowded more
crowded in
a smaller room people sitting on the floors lined up against the wall and we got
ten minutes to talk there not just you know so I was about the fourth or fifth one
to go so all these folks had been sitting up against the wall for over half an hour
and when I came into the room I said before we get started please would some of you
gentleman give up your seat to one or of the one or more of these ladies that are
been standing up against the wall for
a half hour silence. All the men looked away
all the women glared at me. You know what here's the issue and this is why I'm
bringing up this particular situation we're talking about winning in Oregon
District Two we're not talking about winning an election in Jackson County we're
talking about eastern Oregon we're talking about District two I'm here to tell you
in District two men give up their seats to women it's not a sexist thing
a bodhisattva is going to give up
a seat to anybody so I made no friends in that crowd it was
complete silence and I looked at it everyone and said You're kidding silence
but I'm here to tell you that's what it's going to take to win in District two you
might think I'm just
a folksy candidate that's got stories I'm not taking this serious on taking a just
a serious is my buddy Jim here. Come on we need
a candidate that can relate to district to you give up your chair thing.
Yes. Me I.
Will.
Be
a. And
. B. And.